Jordan is in the news again. ESPN always goes to him once in 4 months or if the news cycle is slow, whichever is earlier. Nobody can keep the people glued to their TV quite like MJ even today. But this time the news is about him going to the Hall of Fame. This should be the biggest no-brainer ever. Is this really even news? The only news here is that they are moving the ceremony to a bigger place to fit all of the fans. This is one of those rare inductions where the guy coming in adds more to the hall than what the hall can add to him. MJ's entry elevates the guys who are already there. He lends them more credibility. I was thinking he probably deserves a different recognition - an even more exclusive club that should only allow people of MJ's calibre. This club should be named after Jordan himself. Let's call it the Jordan Hall of Fame for all of sports - JHOF.
The JHOF should be restricted to the creme de la creme of pro athletes - superstar athletes who transcend their sport and totally define their era in their respective sport. Their "era" should at least be 8 to 10 years long and these guys and gals should be in the all century teams in their sport. I am sure I will overlook some names here, but the JHOF should only accept people like MJ, Muhammad Ali, Joe Montana, Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Pete Sampras and Roger Federer. I would have added Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus to the list if only they played a real sport. Even Kobe, Shaq and Tom Brady should only be considered in their third ballot several years after their retirement. And Tim Duncan and Troy Aikman should be outside looking in along with the rest of us. The JHOF should only vote for this thing once in 5 years. It should be built distinct from all other hall of fames in the middle of nowhere. I even have a spot for it - right on the "four corners" north of Arzona where 4 state lines supposedly meet. It sure is in the middle of nowhere and the JHOF will at least help the tourists feel less stupid about driving for hours to see two intersecting straight lines. The JHOF should be a small room and given it's exclusivity, they wouldn't have to expand this room for about 100 years or so.
The only thing left to decide is, does Anna Kournikova belong in the JHOF? Just kidding folks. But seriously though, MJ is special and some videos on Yahoo sports reminded me once again of how good he was. These are clips from his rookie season and the early years of his career. A few things stood out for me. First and foremost his large hands, which according to Phil Jackson is a big difference between him and Kobe because Kobe can't quite squeeze the ball like MJ. Even 25 years later, MJ's hang-time and athleticism looks impressive. Given the combination of improvements in health sciences over the last 20 years and the wannabe-Jordans trying to fly like him, todays stars should be as good as MJ if not better athletically. But his hang-time still looks unbelievable. But aside from all those physical and athletic characteristics, his pure basketball skills you see in these videos impressed me the most. His understanding of the angles on the court, the use of the back-board and the ability to exploit the soft spots on defense combined with his aggressiveness and relentlessness made him pretty unstoppable even in his rookie year. And I was surprised to see him attack on defense and play that well on that side of the ball even in his rookie season. Sorry guys, Kobe and LeBron are great, but they are not even close to this guy yet. And they are not even in the same planet if you just compare the earlier years of their respective careers (even after adjusting for the fact these two came out of high school). So do check these videos out.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/Vintage-video-Young-Michael-Jordan-highlights;_ylt=ApUI6Rx7k5SubSVEv_oEivK8vLYF?urn=nba,187344
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